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Mexico claims mass-kissing crown Record

In an impressive display of interlocked facial sphincter muscles, Mexico City set a new record on Valentine's Day as nearly 40,000 people puckered up in the city center for the world's largest group kiss.

Mexico claims mass-kissing crown Record

Carlos Martinez of Guinness World Records verified the record of 39,897 people in the kissing zone of the city's Zocalo main square - besting our own Weston-super-Mare, which set the previous kissing record in 2007.

'We did it! Long live Mexico,' said Mexican singer-actress Susana Zavaleta, who serenaded the crowd before the kiss with the classic Mexican ballad 'Besame Mucho', or 'Kiss Me a Lot' - also the name of the event.

The Valentine's Day kiss was meant to show love at a time when a crackdown against drug traffickers has led to widespread violence across the country.

'More than 35,000 will simultaneously kiss to show that warmth and love are at the core of this capital, the heart of the Mexican Republic,' the city's tourism department, which organized the gathering, said in a statement.

The giant Zocalo, which can hold 100,000 people, was half-filled as mostly young couples embraced and held one another in a lip lock for 10 seconds.

The kiss had been delayed for several hours as organizers waited for people to gather.

As the crowd grew, city workers in cupid wings offered hugs, teenage boys carried signs volunteering their kissing services and couples practiced for the big event.

Benito Zavala, 53, who works in a store nearby, said he didn't have time to go home to get his wife. So he planned to help set the record with his 2-year-old Chihuahua, Onix, who was licking his lips.